UN Ebola Boss: We`re Winning, But Beware Complacency

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — The head of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response on Thursday hailed Liberia's success in the fight against the deadly Ebola virus, but warned against complacency now that the number of cases has dropped.

"What I've seen is that the level of awareness is very strong, but the biggest risk we have is a certain degree of fatigue," Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said on his second visit to the West African nation.

Ebola has killed more than 3,800 people in Liberia, and nearly 9,200 across Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone since the first Ebola deaths in rural Guinea in December 2013. All three countries have weak health systems that were ill-prepared for such an epidemic.

Significant gains have been made against Ebola, and now only a handful of cases remain in Liberia. Students returned to schools Monday after a six-month closure, and health officials warned that a single case could trigger a whole new cluster of infections.

Ould Cheikh Ahmed said as one or two cases continue to pop up, people are getting frustrated.

"We call it the bumpy road to zero," he said, and warned Liberians that "the biggest enemy is complacency."

The United States is also preparing to withdraw nearly all of its troops fighting the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the White House said last week. Of the 2,800 troops the U.S. deployed, just 100 will remain in West Africa after April 30, officials said.

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